In Over Their Heads
by Murtagh Strikes Back
Summary: Harry Potter and his friends find themselves in Alagaesia, where they are unwillingly caught between the empire and the rebels in a deadly struggle for power. As new emotions begin to surface their friendship is tested like never before. Can they survive?
1. Arrival

**Arrival**

"Harry!" Hermione's anxious voice cut through the silence.

"I'm right here, Hermione," Harry called back to her.

Hermione hurried up to him. "I thought I'd lost you," she muttered. "This place makes me jumpy."

Just then, Ron Weasley appeared at Hermione's side. "No sign of it," he told them glumly.

It was nearly midnight. The three friends had come out to the old forest to look for the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, which should, if Dumbledore had been right, contain a portion of Voldemort's soul. Lately there had been reports of death eater activity near this forest, and they had come to have a look. All the other Horcruxes had been found and destroyed; all they needed now was the cup.

Suddenly, Hermione held up a hand. "Quiet!" she hissed. Slowly, she began to creep off the trail to the right. Ron and Harry looked at each other briefly, then silently followed her.

Now that they listened, they could hear a strange noise not far off. A sort of whirring, humming sound, very muffled. They crept along for about five minutes, keeping as close together as the thick trees allowed.

Abruptly, without warning, they came upon the source of the noise. It was a hole, hovering in midair, and the air around it was spinning violently, creating a suction that was impossible to resist. The three companions were torn from their feet, and drawn, helpless and confused, into the hole.

For a minute all the world seemed to vanish, and everything around them was black. They were spun until they could no longer remember which way was up. Eventually, they were flung out onto the ground in a strange place.

Harry was the first to recover from the ordeal. Slightly dazed, he sat up and stared around. The trees had vanished, and they were surrounded by tents. Men in armour were running about. They passed by without so much as sparing the three teenagers a glance.

Harry shuffled over where Ron and Hermione were sitting. They too had recovered by then, and were staring about with frightened eyes. Both looked up at Harry as he came over.

Hermione spoke first. "Where are we? What's going on?"

Before Ron or Harry could open their mouths, one of the soldiers finally noticed their presence, and yelled.

"Oi! Who are you three?" The man stared at them for a minute, taking in their bizarre appearance. They were no soldiers, that much he could tell. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and shouted for his comrades to come. Before they could register what was happening, Ron, Harry and Hermione were seized roughly and dragged away. They were too confused to put up a fight, they simply allowed themselves to be carried off.

After several minutes of uncomfortable jolting and tugging, they were tossed to the ground in, what they realised, was a large tent. A woman with dark skin and a fierce expression stood before them.

"Who are these people?" She demanded of the soldiers. "They are certainly not with us."

"We do not know, my lady," replied one of the guards uneasily. "We found them sitting just outside one of the storage tents. We didn't know what to do with them."

The lady turned to the three intruders. "Who are you? Speak!"

Again, Hermione was the first to find her voice. "I am Hermione," she responded nervously, "And these are my friends Harry and Ron. We were walking in the forest, when we found a sort of hole in the air, and it…"

She was cut off as another person entered the tent. At first glance, he looked like a regular man. But he was not, Hermione noticed. His features were strangely slanted, and he looked different to any other man she had seen before.

He noticed the three newcomers, and looked at the lady enquiringly. "Lady Nasuada, who are these people?" he asked.

"I do not know," she replied somewhat tensely. "But I am glad you're here, Eragon. Could you please look into their minds and tell me what their purpose here is?"

"Very well," the man called Eragon replied. He fixed his gaze first on the redhead. Ron, to his horror, suddenly felt an alien presence in his mind. He tried to block it out, but he could not. He was completely helpless. All he could do was wait, as Eragon probed his mind, searching for information about them.

Eventually, the strange consciousness withdrew from his mind. He sighed in relief and backed away from the strange man. Eragon, however, was no longer looking at him. His gaze had turned to Hermione. She, too, felt his consciousness enter her mind, and could do nothing to stop it. After a minute, when Eragon was satisfied, he moved on to Harry.

Harry immediately noticed the strange sensation of another being entering his thoughts. For a minute he panicked, then he remembered the Occlumency training he had received, over two years ago now. He focused, and with all his strength, blocked the strange man from his mind.

Eragon withdrew, startled. Apparently, he had expected no resistance. He frowned slightly. "His mind is guarded," he announced to no-one in particular.

Nasuada sighed. After the stress of the battle, her patience was wearing thin. "Well, break his barriers then!" she commanded tersely.

Eragon looked gravely over at Harry. "Lower your barriers," he instructed calmly.

"No."

"Then, you give me no choice." Eragon probed Harry's mind again, gently at first. When Harry continued to block him, he strengthened his attack. Yet the boy still resisted. Suddenly, Eragon jabbed hard with his mind, and Harry felt his barriers break down. He struggled, but the effort of keeping Eragon out had drained his strength. He was forced to yield to the probing. After what seemed like hours, though it could only have been a couple of minutes at most, Eragon withdrew and turned to Nasuada.

"They were brought here by some sort of magical backfire," he told her. "They bear no ill will towards us, but they are not as helpless as they seem. They can wield magic, all of them." He did not see the need to go into any more detail than that.

Nasuada turned her piercing gaze on the three of them. "Where did you learn magic?" she demanded.

"At Hogwarts," Hermione responded impatiently. She was not sure she liked these people; what right did they have to drag her here like a criminal, and break into her mind by force? "It's a magic school." She elaborated upon seeing their confused expressions. Before they could speak again, she voiced the question the had been pondering. "Where are we? And who are you?"

Nasuada looked angrily at Hermione, but Eragon turned to her again and spoke. "This is Alagaesia," he explained gently. "I am Eragon Shadeslayer, and this is the lady Nasuada. You have come at a rather unfortunate time, we have just fought in a great battle, and our hospitality is not quite what it might otherwise be."

Nasuada cut him off. "Eragon, we have other matters to attend to." She turned to the guards. "Take them to a spare tent, and see that they remain there. I will deal with them presently."

So, the three friends found themselves sitting in an empty tent, while soldiers stood guard outside. They were tired and very confused, and weren't sure what to do.

Ron was sitting with his arm wrapped around Hermione, while Harry paced up and down, trying to figure out what they could do. Eventually, he had had enough. He pulled out his wand.

"I'm sick of this," he announced to his friends. "I'm getting out of here. He pointed his wand at the tent door, and muttered, "_Diffindo"_.

Nothing happened.

Panicking slightly, Harry threw a string of spells and hexes at the door of the tent. None of them left a mark.

As he became more and more frenzied, the tent door was abruptly thrown open and the strange man from before strode in. He caught sight of Harry, standing in the centre of the room holding a stick aloft and looking absolutely terrified. Eragon stared at him as though he was mad.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked, not sure how he should react to this. The boy turned abruptly and pointed the stick in Eragon's face. Swiftly regaining his composure, Eragon raised an eyebrow. This was something new indeed. Being threatened by a captive boy, wearing some sort of strange robe and wielding a twig. Quite comical, actually. Eragon grabbed the boy's arm and lowered it.

"Calm down," he said soothingly. "I will not hurt you."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a kid!" Harry yelled suddenly. This was too much. His wand wasn't working, and he was standing in a tent being patronized by some strange man with pointed ears, dressed in full armour.

Eragon gave him another strange look. "How old are you again?" he asked.

"I'm seventeen!" Harry spat back.

"Bit small for your age, aren't you?" Eragon mused, provoking an angry scowl from Harry.

"Well, how old are you?" He demanded furiously.

"Eighteen years old exactly." Responded Eragon. "Are your friends all the same age as you?" Harry simply nodded. He did not trust himself to keep his temper if he opened his mouth again.

Eragon sighed. "I see that you are preoccupied," he said evenly. "I will leave you now, for a while. Please do not do anything rash. Food and drink will be provided, and as I said, you will not be harmed." He walked over to the door. "I shall return in the morning." He told them. Then he exited, and the three of them were left all alone in the tent.


	2. Jealousy

This is dedicated to my sister LadyLapisLazuli, who has been hounding me mercilessly to update, and without whose erm…assistance…this story would probably not exist.

**Jealousy**

The next morning, Eragon rose early and went to the tent where the captives had spent the night. He greeted the guard, who nodded tiredly in recognition.

"Little blighters kept up a fine racket all night," he informed Eragon wearily. "Wailing and shouting and crashing like you wouldn't believe. If it weren't for my orders…" he trailed off menacingly.

"You did well," Eragon told him calmly. "You may go now, I shall see to them." The man smiled gratefully and trudged off to his bed. Cautiously, Eragon opened the tent door and walked inside.

It seemed that the soldier had spoken true. What had once been a small spare tent now looked like a hurricane had passed through it. Chairs had been flung around, and the bed had been upended and the covers strewn around. The fabric of the walls had been clawed and pulled, and Eragon noticed a patch of scuffed dirt on the floor by the wall, where it appeared the captives had attempted to dig their way out.

The three were gathered in the centre of the room. Their shoulders were hunched, and they looked utterly miserable. They did not notice their visitor. Eragon cleared his throat, and they whirled around, startled.

"Do not fear," Eragon soothed the frightened captives. "It is only me."

"Oh, that's comforting," Ron snarled sarcastically. "We were so worried it was someone else."

"Ronald!" Hissed Hermione, elbowing him in the side.

"What?"

"Shut up!"

"What if I don't want to? Since when are you in charge anyway?"

"You're not making this any easier, Ron."

"Well maybe if you…"

Eragon cleared his throat again. Ron and Hermione fell silent, abashed. Eragon smiled briefly.

"As you may see," he began, "You have arrived at a rather inconvenient moment. We have just been engaged in battle, and our hospitality is not quite what it might otherwise be. I believe that your intentions are innocent, and you may be assured that no harm will come to you while you are under my protection. However, we must now decide what we are to do with you." He paused, and looked up at the captives expectantly.

"We need to get home!" Harry snarled. "Why are you keeping us here like this? We haven't done anything…" he was cut of abruptly as Hermione stomped on his foot.

"What are our options, sir?" she asked meekly, shooting a warning glance at Harry.

"Please, just Eragon," he insisted gently. "I am afraid there are not many options. We will, of course, attempt to find a way to send you back to your own world, but that could take months of research, and it is not certain that we will succeed. Nothing of this nature has ever occurred before in recorded history. In the meantime, what are you to do now? Until we find a solution to your…predicament, we must find somewhere for you to go. Our company departs tomorrow for the city of Aberon. You can travel with us that far, but where will you go afterwards? We are still engaged in a war."

Hermione swallowed nervously, and glanced at her companions before speaking. "Is there any way we could help you?" She asked nervously. "There must be some way we could be useful." Harry and Ron stared at her, but she avoided their gaze determinedly.

Eragon looked at her thoughtfully. "We are always in need of more people to help," he said slowly. "And I believe you will not betray us. You can use magic, can you not?"

"We can in our own world," she said, "but our wands don't work here."

"Wands? You do not need wands to perform magic. You can easily learn how to harness your magical power without a wand. If you are willing, I will secure a teacher for you."

Hermione smiled shyly. "Could we have a few moments to talk about it?" she asked.

"Very well," said Eragon. "I will leave you for a while to discuss my proposition. Do you require any refreshments in the meantime?"

"Yes!" Ron interrupted, before Hermione could open her mouth. "We haven't had any breakfast, and that dinner you gave us was pitiful! I'm starving!"

If Eragon was taken aback at this rudeness, he gave no sign. He said calmly, "I will have one of the soldiers bring you breakfast. I ask that, for the moment, you remain in this tent. I must consult with Lady Nasuada, but I shall return to speak with you as soon as time and duty allow." With those words, he left. Hermione looked after him, her mouth slightly open as though surprised.

"What's up with you?" Ron demanded, looking rather annoyed.

"What? Nothing!" She snapped. "So, what do you two think? I think we should help him."

"He says he trusts us, but how do we know we can trust him?" asked Harry slowly.

"I trust him," said Hermione simply. "It isn't as though we really have a choice. What harm can it do?"

Harry shook his head. "Well, before I make any commitments, I want to know more about him. What's this war they've been in, for instance?"

Ron scowled darkly. "I can't believe you two are even considering this," he spat.

"What is your problem, Ron?" Hermione shouted at him. "You've been so rude ever since we arrived here! Can't you just grow up?"

"Come on. I've seen the way you look at him." Ron hissed angrily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she shrieked. "You're just jealous of him!"

"Why would I be jealous of a scumbag like that?"

"This is exactly how you acted with Victor. I thought you'd grown up since then! Obviously, I was wrong." Hermione glared at him furiously, and stalked over to a corner of the tent, where she sat down with her back to the room. Ron did the same in the opposite corner. Harry was left standing in the middle of the room, pondering what had possessed his friends to become so childlike.


End file.
